NORTH OLMSTED, Ohio -- With a loud meow followed by plenty of purring, volunteer cat rescue group Tails from the City announces a west side presence with its brand new Adoption and Activity Center. The grand opening takes place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at 23130 Lorain Road in North Olmsted.

"It's a great location," Tails from the City President Michelle Wheadon said. "We're looking to expand our presence, and North Olmsted just seemed to be a pretty good location relative to I-480 and I-90. It's kind of centrally located, easy for people to find and we have volunteers in the area."

Tails from the City was created seven years ago when a group of like-minded volunteers joined forces to help out a Cleveland resident's hoarding situation, in which more than 100 cats were rescued and brought to a hastily acquired shelter.

A year later, the nonprofit was formed, with roughly 50 volunteers currently running adoption programs out of east side pet stores.

"There are way too many homeless cats out there," Wheadon said. "The Cleveland APL and all of the cat rescues are normally full, but there are more cats that need help. Since Tails from the City started, we've adopted out close to 2,200 cats. The last two years we adopted out about close to 500 cats annually.

"So this adoption facility should increase that number, but the bigger part of it is the Activity Center. In Cleveland, it's hard to find any place that can help if you have questions about cats, issues about cats. We want to give them the tools to learn how to deal with an issue vs. just surrendering a cat that already has a home to a shelter," she said.

The North Olmsted building is Tails from the City's first brick-and-mortar location open to the public weekly from noon to 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.

In addition to adoption services, educational opportunities and a small fundraising retail section, the new facility will also have activities such as pet yoga, movie nights and even a lecture series.

"The goal is to keep more cats in homes and give people a resource to go when they have questions," Wheadon said. "There are all kinds of cat education things we want to do in Northeast Ohio."